Learning to Run

Let’s talk about preaching and teaching for a few minutes. If you attend church regularly, you will likely have noticed that there is a great variety of styles and methods used to disseminate truth. A preacher can be quiet, loud, long winded, scholarly, untutored, or even just plain weird. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and for the purposes of this discussion, I am not dealing with the style or method. I’m just going to talk about depth. Perhaps it’s the wrong word, but I cannot find a better one. When I say depth, I’m talking about the meat, the nutrition of the lesson. I mean the amount and quality of truth presented.

First of all, I am grateful for the millions of honest pastors worldwide who study their heart out for their flock, most of whom will receive little recognition here. Many of them are bi-vocational, and to the best of their ability they regularly search the Scriptures for their people. The church as a whole needs you, and we are grateful for you. I am grateful for every pastor who has invested into my life over the years. Don’t quit! Secondly, I am very aware of the unique challenges of preaching & teaching a mixed audience of all ages and spiritual maturity. It’s not easy! I have experienced that challenge myself, and I salute those of you who accomplish this task well.

The burr under my saddle today is simple. I loath shallow, pre-processed preaching. Here’s what I mean.

After forty plus years in church, I can generally figure out what a pastor is speaking on from his opening text. Within the first 10 minutes I have his probable outline written down, and a basic premise for the rest of the message. At that point my hope usually dies, and I listen with one ear while I read Bible or feed my soul in another way. I came to church looking to be fed from Heaven’s table, and was given Baptist KD instead. It’s occasionally dressed up with hamburger helper, or ketchup. Sometimes it’s even homemade, with real cheese and homemade noodles. And while I appreciate the effort and the presentation, it’s still Baptist Kraft Dinner.

Maybe I’m just weary, jaded, or carnal. I cannot ever discount that possibility. Yet the Bible comes alive when I read it at home or at work! The characters are real, the layers of truth seem vivid, and the goodness of God oozes from every verse! I love it! But somehow, most messages at church seem to take the Living Word and steal the life changing power from it. I feel like I am visiting a museum of spirituality instead of meeting with my Saviour. Honestly, it sometimes enrages me. It feels like criminal negligence to represent truth in such a dull and shallow manner. I get indignant that my children are being taught such shallow tripe, that they are being taught that activity is the way to please Christ. I have a bone-level anger that the next generation is being presented with the eternal Words of the Living God in such a shallow fashion. And I get discouraged as I watch so many of our young married couples struggle to find meaning in church. The depth of the preaching matters.

I’m convinced that part of the problem is the way many Baptist churches organize the church. Pastors end up responsible for everything. After a few years of wearing every hat in the church, most guys don’t have the energy for deep study. The church has worn them out. Sometimes, pastor’s simply don’t know how to delegate or relinquish control of the many ministries within a church. But the primary job of the pastor is to feed the flock.

Acts 20:28 (AV) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

1 Peter 5:2 (AV) Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

The apostles never worried about bulletins, buildings, or programs. They didn’t even prioritize doing good in the community. They focused on prayer and the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4 (AV) But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. Most guys try to do this. I think they truly do. But …

I also know it’s dangerous to deeply apply the Word. Its a 2-edged sword, and it cuts the preacher as deeply as anyone else. And sometimes I suspect that there is an unconscious reluctance to go deep into the Word, because truth demands a response. I certainly did this sometimes. I might come to Saturday study time full of carnality and sin, and it was easier to freshen up something than open my soul to the Great Physician. It can be tempting to blame the people for not being ready for meat, that their diet of milk and KD is their fault. But, I’ve lived both sides, and this is what I’ve observed. It’s not always the people. Sometimes, the preacher just didn’t want to open his own heart to the deep conviction of the Spirit.

Challenging, authoritative preaching that is chock full of God’s truth and is delivered with the Spirit’s grace and power is incredibly attractive to God’s people. When I preached like that, the church grew in numbers, in spirit, and in outreach. The same has been true of every church I’ve been part of. Programs don’t really matter. In fact, the church service itself frequently hinders. I suspect that many Christians would rather go hear from Heaven at a landfill than hear from the preacher in a nice building. We like our pastor, but he’s not Jesus. Please, show us more Jesus and less pastor. There is no doubt that many of us sheep are carnal, but everywhere I go I encounter serious, sanctified servants desperate to eat something besides baby food . Break open the Book, and feed us something fresh!

If you are a pastor, please hear my heart. I’m dying to be challenged in church. Find a way to drop the things that distract and weary you, and focus on feeding the sheep from the Word. Let the dangerous truths of Scripture be applied to you first, and then give them to us!

Imagine a church where the pastor prayed multiple hours a day, and spent time mining eternal gold from the pages of Scripture for himself. Imagine if he refused the stresses and distractions of overseeing the physical to focus on the spiritual. Imagine a church where the people served each other, and spiritual minded men took care of the physical side of things so the pastor could concentrate on feeding the flock. Imagine the joy of coming to service to hear things you’ve not noticed before, or to be challenged in ways you’ve not considered. Imagine hearing from a preacher who is on fire with holiness, and the sweet fragrance of heaven wafting off his spirit! Imagine forgetting the clock because you are lost in the wonder of the life changing truths you are hearing!

Unfortunately, imagining this is all many of us can do. Our reality is stale truths from weary men.

Feed the flock something fresh.